ENFIELD SCHOOL BOARD DISCUSSES APPROACHES TO LOWER DROPOUT RATE

The furor over conflicting accounts of Enfield High School's dropout rate prompted administrators to suggest Tuesday that the town consider more innovative ways to keep students in school.

Teenagers who regularly miss school, show up late and fail classes are at far greater risk of dropping out than other students, Principal Joseph Gallucci told the school board. And some of the rules that help the majority of students avoid such problems might make things worse for those at risk students, he suggested.

"There are 4 to 5 percent of our students each year who, for some reason, don't seem to fit into our high school program," Gallucci said.

After reviewing surveys of students who dropped out of Enfield or Enrico Fermi high schools during the past several years, Gallucci identified factors that most of them shared -- attendance problems, poor grades, lack of involvement in school, resistance to school authority, family problems, an attitude that they did not really belong in school and the belief that the school staff did not care about them.

"Whatever it takes to get them interested and motivated to stay in school, we should look at," board member Roger Jones said. "It's so easy to turn our backs and say, `They'll be gone next year.' But we can't let them fall through the cracks. Our job is to plug the cracks."

The state Department of Education recently reported the dropout rate at Enfield High was 25.9 percent, nearly double the 13.3 percent rate at Enrico Fermi.

But Gallucci said a state education official told him Tuesday that the state's formula has errors. The dropout rate of Enfield High's Class of 1996 was 11.7 percent, he said. Several board members said they were angry because the original state figure alarmed residents.

Superintendent of Schools John Gallacher said Enfield High and Fermi staff members will discuss specific ways to reduce the dropout rates. Tuesday night, though, Gallucci mentioned the possibility of a low-cost alternative education center -- essentially a high school for students who do not do well in traditional high schools.

Board member Michael Hanlon questioned whether the schools should go further to accommodate the at risk students.

"I wonder if we're not struggling with the unresolvable. I'd be interested to know why 7:26 is bad for them, but OK [for the majority]. There are people who just never make it into work, who don't have adequate concern," Hanlon said.

Board member W. Franklin Wood said the parents of those students need to help them. "Get involved with your kids," he said.

Gallucci said that students who have dropped out of high school in the past several years averaged 10 to 12 missed schools days in junior high school -- well before they reached the upper grades.

That led board member Nelson Gamage to suggest considering an alternative learning center at the junior high school level, to head off future problems. Gallucci said the administration would explore the idea.

The board discussed no specifics and took no action, but Jones urged his colleagues not to write off at risk students.

"They're not going to be doctors and lawyers and engineers and architects. They're going to do the jobs that many of us don't want to do," he said.